squinting up at the VAMPIRIC CHARMS sign glowing wetly. Ivy wanted ice cream, and since she didn't want it enough to go out in the rain for it, I had been suckered into it. I'd do just about anything to see her smile again. It had been a rough two weeks. 'Course, we needed cat food, too, and dish soap. And we were out of coffee. It was scary how fast my quick run to the store had turned into a three-bag trip.
The door to the church creaked open, and I slid inside. Leaning against the closed door for balance, I wedged my shoes off. It was dark, seeing as the moon wasn't up and the clouds were thick. I paused just inside the sanctuary, flicking the light switch with my elbow. Nothing.
'Crap on toast,' I muttered, smacking it a few more times just for fun. 'Jenks!' I shouted. 'The fuse in the sanctuary blew again!'
I didn't really expect an answer, but where was Ivy? She had to have noticed.
Shifting the bags awkwardly, I headed for the kitchen. Three steps in, I froze. I could smell unfamiliar vampire. Lots of them. And old smoke. And beer.
'Shit,' I whispered, adrenaline whipping through me.
'Now!' someone yelled, and the lights flashed on.
Panicked, I dropped the bags and fell into a fighting stance, blinded by the sudden glare.
'Surprise!' came a chorus of voices from the front of the church, and I spun, heart pounding. 'Happy birthday!'
I stared, my mouth hanging open and my hands in fists as the pint of Choco-Chunk rolled to Ivy's feet. She was actually smiling, and I slowly stood straight. My heart was still hammering her, and Jenks was making darting loops from me to her, shedding a brilliant gold.
'We got her!' he was shouting, and what looked like all his kids took up the refrain, filling the air with color and sound. 'We got her good, Ivy. Look at her. Not a clue!'
Shocked, I fumbled for the bags. David, Keasley, and Ceri were at the couch, and Ivy was standing by the far light switch. Everyone was smiling, but then, as Jenks had said, they'd gotten me good.
There were no vampires here other than Ivy, and the only drink I could see were the three two-liters of soda on the coffee table. The smell of vampire, cigarettes, and old beer was coming from the battered pool table now set up to one side of the sanctuary. It hadn't been there when I had left. Seeing it, I felt my throat close up. It had been Kisten's. 'But my birthday was last month,' I said, still confused.
Ceri came forward. There was a cone hat on her head, but she somehow made it look more dignified than one had any right to expect. 'We didn't forget,' she said, giving me a quick hug. 'We were distracted. Happy birthday, Rachel.'
I honestly didn't know what to say. Keasley had on a hat, too, and when he saw me look at him, he took it off. The pixies, though, kept theirs on, darting about like mad.
My gaze went to the pool table, and tears pricked at my eyes. From there I looked to the surrounding faces. Under their smiles they were pleading, almost desperate for me to pretend everything was normal. That life was getting back to what it should be. That I wasn't missing a huge piece of myself. That there was one person that should be here who wasn't, and never would be again.
So I smiled.
'Wow,' I said, coming to take the ice cream Ivy had picked up off the floor. 'This is great! And yeah, I'm surprised.' I let the bags of groceries slip to the couch and took off my coat. 'I really don't believe this. Thanks, guys.'
Ceri gave my upper arm a squeeze in support, and then her expression blanked. 'I forgot the cake!' she exclaimed, green eyes going wide. 'I left it on my table!'
'There's cake?' I said, wincing when Jenks flicked on the stereo and Marilyn Manson's 'Personal Jesus' blared out before he turned it down. Ceri must have made it, because we'd thrown the old one out. I hadn't been able to eat it while Kisten lay in the morgue, and now that he was cremated and in Ivy's room, I felt no different. But tonight other people's feelings were involved, and I realized I was going to have to eat Ceri's cake or risk hurting her feelings.
Jenks flitted back to me, shooing his kids away from the soda. 'Hell yes there's cake!' he said, loud to cover Ceri's distress. Can't have a birthday without cake. 'I'll help you, Ceri.'
The pretty elf shook her head. 'You stay,' she said, halfway to the door. 'No need for you to leave. I'll go get it. I'll be right back.' She jerked to a stop and retraced her steps, smiling and bright. 'Here,' she said, taking her hat off and putting it on me. 'Wear this.'
Ivy snickered, and I reached up to touch it. 'Thanks,' I said, cursing my outright fear of hurting her feelings. Great. I was going to be eating cake in a silly hat. Damn it, no one had better have a camera.
Keasley's brown, arthritic hands gathered up the handles of the canvas grocery sacks. 'I'll take those. You entertain,' he said, pulling them from the couch. Hesitating, he turned, bending his once-tall height to give me a fatherly kiss on the cheek. 'Happy birthday, Rachel. You're quite the young woman. Your father would be proud of you.'
If they were trying to cheer me up, they were doing a lousy job of it. 'Thanks,' I said, feeling my throat start to take on a lump.
I turned, looking for something to do. Ivy was supervising Jenks handing out soda to his kids in little cups made from the plastic plugs they put in pressboard furniture to hide the holes. David caught my eye and started over. His worn brown boots showed from under his blue jeans, and he scuffed to an uncertain halt. I hadn't seen him since the night I'd been lying on the floor, drugged as he told Minias that he had a legal right to make decisions for me. David had saved my life as much as Ceri.
'Happy birthday,' he said, clearly wanting to say something more. Hell, a handshake wasn't going to do it, and as a wash of gratitude warmed me, I reached out and brought him close, taking him in a hug. His arms were solid and real. Comforting. The complicated scent of Were filled my senses, and I closed my eyes, feeling my chest grow heavy when I noticed the differences between being held by him and Kisten.
I clenched my jaw and refused to cry. I didn't want to talk about Kisten. I wanted to pretend we were all normal. But I had to say something, I couldn't let David think I wasn't grateful for what he'd done. 'Thank you,' I said into his shirt. 'Thank you for saving my life.'
'It was an honor.' His voice rumbled from him to me through his chest, and his hold on me grew more certain now that he knew that the depth of my emotion was coming from gratitude.
'I'm sorry about Brett,' I said miserably, and his grip tightened.
'Me too,' he said, and I heard the pain in his voice, the loss of more than a fellow Were, but a possible friend. 'I want to make him a member of our pack posthumously.'
'I'd like that,' I said, throat closing. Giving my arms a squeeze, he let go and backed up.
I met his eyes, surprised at the flash of fear. It was the curse. It was afraid of me, and it was only David's alpha confidence that held it in check. Anyone else might have misunderstood the fleeting, deep-seated terror, but I'd had that thing in my thoughts. I knew what it was. And it was dangerous. 'David…'
'Don't,' he said, his dark eyes fixing on me to stop my words. 'I did the right thing. I turned five women, and it killed three of them. If I have the curse in me, I can help Serena and Kally.' His anger left him as he got lost in a memory. 'And it's not that bad,' he finished, gesturing helplessly. 'I feel good. Whole. Like this is the way I was supposed to be.'
'Yeah, but David…'
He confidently shook his head. 'I have this under control. The curse is like the devil itself. I feel it in me, and I have to weigh my thoughts to decide if it's me or the curse, but it's happy to be able to run again, and I have that as a threat. It knows if it makes me angry, I'll come to you and you'll take it out and put it in a prison of bone.'
'It's right,' I said, remembering the fear in his eyes from just my touch. 'David, this is so dangerous. Let me take it out. Everyone thinks the focus is destroyed. We can hide it—'
He held up a hand, and I stopped. 'With the curse in me, Serena and Kally can shift without pain. Do you really want to take that from them? And it's okay. I didn't want a pack, but… sometimes our choices are made for us. The curse belongs to the Weres. Leave it where it is,' he said firmly, as if the conversation were done.
Slumping against the back of the couch, I gave up. David ducked his head and relaxed. He had won, and he knew it. Ivy glanced at me from where she was handing out soda when Jenks whispered something in her ear, and her questioning gaze turned into a smile. Taking two plastic cups, she moved to sit against the pool table where
